Locker Room Hairdresser Reo, Emergencies Only
by The Tox
Summary: In which Reo frets over Akashi, who frankly looks like he cut his own hair with a pair of kitchen scissors. [Rakuzan fluff, slight AkaReo]


"Sei-chan, if you wanted to cut your hair, you should have come to me," said Reo, eyebrows furrowed and his hands at his hips, cross with the new style Akashi was sporting, once he returned to the Rakuzan lockers. Only at his mention of it, at the poorly cut bangs of red hair, did Hayama and Nebuya even seem to realize what was different, though the rest of the team were thankfully observant enough to notice the difference on their own.

"Apologies," Akashi said smoothly, his voice carried across the room. "It was not a planned decision behind your back."

Reo sighed, shaking his head. "I can tell as much," he said. "It looks like you cut your hair with a pair of kitchen scissors. Come here, I'll fix it up for you."

Stepping around the bench, he beckoned Akashi to come over, though Akashi seemed mostly bemused by the idea of following instructions like those – and having his own skills slighted.

Nevertheless, he walked over to the bench, while Reo picked through his own bag.

"Oi, Reo-nee, you have scissors in there?" Nebuya wondered, frowning in confusion.

"Reo-nee, you're a hairstylist? Can you fix my hair too? It's so pricy at my place," Hayama asked eagerly.

Reo huffed, while draping a clean towel around Akashi's shoulders, fastening it in the back with hairclips.

"This is an emergency only," he told Hayama. Equipped with a comb and scissor, he begun to comb all that striking hair into place. "And it's not a hard skill to pick up if you care about your hair enough."

"So you have an… emergency haircut kit? Do you bring that everywhere?" Nebuya asked while scratching the back of his head.

"You wouldn't understand the horrors of a bad hair day," Reo sighed in condemnation. "And evidently, it comes in handy."

"I think Akashi looked fine just now, though," Hayama piped in.

"And you have no taste," countered Reo. "Our captain should look presentable. Now shut it, concentrate on getting ready for the game. Really…"

Their next game wasn't for another hour, so a few of the players left to watch the current game, buy something to eat, or scout the building. A few stayed behind, like Mayuzumi, greatly invested in his book, to loiter about, relax or talk privately.

Coach Shirogane was at some other appointment, and wouldn't arrive for another half hour, so Reo could work in peace, and simply focus on trimming Akashi's hair.

"It's unlike you, Sei-chan," he commented softly, for his ears only, while chopping away the rough edges. "Doing something drastic so impulsively."

"I think you might count getting a haircut as more drastic than me," Akashi replied evenly.

"Cutting your own hair is a drastic measure by anyone's standards," Reo huffed. "Not to mention the symbolic history behind shedding your own hair. I certainly won't fault your for drama. Did something happen when you met your old team?"

He watched Akashi's purse his lips.

"I would ask you not to pry, like I asked you not to come with. I trust you can understand."

"Understand your need of privacy, yes, but when you come back with your gorgeous hair all messed up, I get worried," Reo replied, just as he executed the final cut.

Combing through the hair once more, and then brushing it with his regular hairbrush to enhance the volume, he ran his smooth, well-tended hands over Akashi's face to brush off the cut-off edges. Soon he was spotless, and so Reo took off the towel from his shoulders, and handed him a mirror from the bag.

"Oh, look, he looks exactly like before," Hayama commented jovially.

"Shut up, you know nothing," Reo snapped at him, scowling in distaste, before looking down at Akashi with a hopeful smile.

"It looks fine. Thank you Reo," Akashi told him, handing the mirror back. "And for causing you to worry, I can assure you that nothing unexpected took place when I met with my old team."

"Except for-"

"-my hair, yes. But there is no reason for you to be at unease."

His decisively calm look made Reo relax.

"That's good to hear. And this look is more sophisticated than your old one." As he was speaking, he stroke a hand through the newly cut hair. "Suits you better, if I might say so myself."

Akashi's slight, bemused smirk would have made a lesser person blush.

"You might," he said, meeting Reo's playful gaze as he spoke. "And I will come to you first next time. Unless it's another drastic and impulsive decision."


End file.
